Iran War Live Updates: Khamenei Says U.S. Military Bases in Middle East No Longer Safe

 

Iran War Live Updates: Khamenei Says U.S. Military Bases in Middle East No Longer Safe

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said that after the war Gulf nations would no longer be “shields” for U.S. bases.

 

May 26, 2026, 4:40 a.m. ET41 minutes ago

Erika Solomon Aaron Boxerman Eric SchmittTyler Pager and Ephrat Livni

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/26/world/iran-war-trump-deal

 

Here’s the latest.

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Tuesday that the war with the United States had shown that American military bases in the Middle East are no longer safe, after Iran repeatedly targeted those sites in retaliation to U.S.-Israeli strikes.

 

“The hands of time do not turn backward, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” Mr. Khamenei said in a written statement marking the start of the Hajj pilgrimage, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

 

Mr. Khamenei, who succeeded his father after he was killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on the opening day of the war, also called for greater cooperation among Muslim countries.

 

On Monday, President Trump called for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, among other Middle Eastern countries, to join the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several states. But that is highly unlikely, according to analysts.

 

The comments from Mr. Khamenei came a day after the United States carried out what it described as “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran. U.S. forces struck missile launch sites in Iran and boats that were trying to emplace mines, American officials said. U.S. Central Command said they were intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

 

Also on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel signaled that his country’s fight with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would intensify. The Israeli military said on Monday night that it had struck more than 70 Hezbollah sites across Lebanon in the past day.

 

As fighting picked up on multiple fronts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said talks to end the war were continuing and a deal could take “a few days.”

 

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress,” Mr. Rubio said on Tuesday while visiting Jaipur, India. “I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document.”

 

Senior Iranian leaders, including Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Monday for talks on efforts to end the war, according to two diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

 

Here’s what else we’re covering:

 

Enriched uranium: On Monday evening, Mr. Trump said he expected Iran either to hand over its enriched uranium or to destroy it in front of neutral witnesses. It is unclear whether Iran has agreed to that. A senior U.S. official told reporters on Sunday that the Iranians had, in principle, committed to giving up stockpiles of enriched uranium. However, Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said Iran was not discussing details of its nuclear program.

 

Internet in Iran: President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran has ordered the country’s communications ministry to end its near-total internet blackout, according to Tasnim, a semiofficial Iranian news agency. It was not immediately clear whether the order had been put into effect. Read more ›